Common Interests

By Fearless Young Orphan

Born to Kill (1947)

Directed by

There’s something a little off about this woman we join in Reno. She’s Helen Brent (), beautiful and dry-witted, and she has just gotten a divorce. She returns to the boarding house where she’s been staying to check herself out. There she sees a pair of acquaintances she has made during her stay, the landlady Mrs. Kraft (Esther Howard, having a real hoot playing this part) and Laury, a young woman who likes to have fun but doesn’t have much sense. Laury brags about her new man, a real tough guy she says. Helen reacts to most of this with disinterest, but there’s something in her face when she agrees with Laury that men prone to violence are, you know, pretty sexy. Laury has a ditzy plan to make the new man jealous by going out with an old boyfriend. This has apparently worked for her in the past, but Laury should be more careful. Her new beau isn’t the type who likes to be shown up. So Helen discovers that night, when she returns from gambling to find Laury and the patsy both dead in Laury’s kitchen.

Helen knows who did it. She saw Laury that night at the casino, and saw the glowering man who shot daggers with his eyes when he saw that Laury was two- timing him. But instead of calling the police, Helen just catches her train out of town. And who else should be on that train but Sam Wild (Lawrence Tierney), the tough guy (read: psychopath) who killed the couple and who also knows that Helen knows he did. There is no fear from either party. The two of them strike up a strangely understanding conversation. And I don’t mean “understanding,” like your mom is always understanding about your troubles, but “understanding” like they’re two peas in a pod, if the pod happens to be full of violent obsession.

That’s all fairly complicated, and we’re only about fifteen minutes into the movie. There’s more. We go to Helen’s home in San Francisco (these noir people always live in San Francisco, eh?) and learn that she is the poor relation of her foster sister, newspaper heiress Gloria. Helen is engaged to Fred (she works fast, this girl) who is also rich and is one of those “nice guys” who just isn’t going to do the trick for a woman of Helen’s dark tastes. But Sam comes looking for Helen, drops in unexpectedly at Gloria’s home and hears that pretty blonde Gloria is an heiress. He invites himself along on a night out and within weeks, he and Gloria are getting married. Helen is not pleased about this. But then again, it means Discussing the nightly dish-washing rotation will she and Sam will be living under the never be the same again. same roof.

And just in time for the honeymoon, a private detective comes knocking at the door. He is Matt Arnett (show-stealer Walter Slezak), a rotund, unassuming stealth bomber who seems to figure things out too fast for comfort. Arnett was hired by Mrs. Kraft, who wants some justice for the death of her friend Laury. So Helen knows everything. The question is: how much does she want to protect Sam? Does she want to protect him more than she wants to get him out of her life? We may never know exactly what is going on in her head.

A plot this complicated, that moves this fast, is hard to describe without going into excruciating detail, so let’s just leave it at that. There are more twists coming, and you’ve never seen alignments shift so quickly. This is a rather brutal film, considering the year of its making. Like scratching a mosquito bite until it bleeds, this is a bloody mess that feels sooooo good.

The Scorecard:

Our Hero: Sam is no hero; he’s a big, foul-tempered brute who has little conscience. Women are attracted to his strength and decisiveness, but there is no soft core of emotion in this one. We’ll watch him kill several people and flagrantly carry on an affair under his new bride’s nose, always looking for the next opportunity to get rich. He wants Helen, because he recognizes in her a kindred spirit. Thing is, you don’t really want to be thing this man wants. No, not even you, Helen. I expect some regret or guilt from my heroes, and this guy has none. He is not a sympathetic character, but he is a fascinating one. 7/10.

As Played by: Lawrence Tierney. I’ve never seen him younger or more powerful than he was in this merciless role as the uncontrollable force that is Sam. It’s an arresting performance, scary. 10/10

Femme Fatale: Helen, who may be the most confused femme fatale we’ve ever talked about. She’s a smart woman and a good manipulator. She doesn’t want to be a bad girl, but violence and death excite her so she just can’t help herself. Sam excites her so much that she doesn’t know whether she loves or hates him. Neither do we. She may in fact be more trouble than Sam; at least with Sam, you know pretty much what to expect. With Helen? Yikes. 9/10.

As Played by: Claire Trevor, who can go from hard to soft to hard again within the space of a few seconds. I liked her in the role and she’s quite beautiful, though I wished we had a better insight into her emotions. She’s too frequently in the same testy, ticked-off mood. 8/10

The mastermind: We’ve got a couple of villains here, though Sam is really the guilty party. Helen doesn’t kill anybody, but she knows how to push Sam’s buttons about as effectively as he can push hers. The pair of them seems to have no firm plan in mind; still, we can see many possibilities on the horizon. All we know is that they’re surrounded by money and want to get their hands on it, and on each other, too. 9/10.

As Played by: Lawrence Tierney and Claire Trevor, averaging their performance scores for a 9/10.

The location: After we leave the dilapidated-looking Reno, we spend most of our time in Gloria’s mansion, so the noir atmosphere is hindered by all those elegant rooms and well-lit parlors. We still get to wallow in the dark thanks to visits to Mrs. Kraft’s dank hotel room and one midnight rendezvous on a deserted beach. 8/10.

The crime/frame: Sam killed two young people in Reno and then ran for San Francisco. Helen knows he did it, and so does an intrepid detective. So the issue is: can somebody get some evidence and get to the police before Sam does them all in? Will Helen even be willing to try? A terrible mess full of twisted emotions! 10/10.

The mood: Here Born to Kill really shines. There is little but uncomfortable, squirming tension and ugly desire throughout the film. Helen carries such a bad aura with her that Mrs. Kraft can see it, and poor Fred-the-fiancé runs from it. Great characters like Mrs. Kraft and Arnett the detective add realism and humanity where our two lead characters cannot manage it. 10/10.

The sex factor: What Helen and Sam feel for each other is rather surprisingly un- sexy, considering. They try for a sexual relationship because they’re not sure what else to do with each other. I get the feeling that their desires run to the far less ordinary. This may sound like I’m going to give it a bad score, but think again! This kind of twisted desire is right at home in film noir. 9/10.

Overall Noir Scoire: 89%